How to Build Insect Traps

Insects are an important part of nature. Different insects perform different duties. However, for a number of reasons you may want to trap insects. For example, if you want to study a particular insect, you would want to catch it but not kill it so you could observe it. Or you may have a fly problem in your home or your yard and you want to trap them and kill them. Luckily, you can make your own insect trap at home for little money for either live trapping or killing of the insects.

Things You'll Need

  • 2-liter plastic bottle
  • Soap
  • Water
  • Utility knife
  • Scissors
  • Egg
  • Cola
  • Hole puncher
  • Twine
  • Funnel
  • Can
  • Newspaper
  • Light source
  • Catch net
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Instructions

  1. Method One -- Fly Trap

    • 1

      Clean a 2-liter plastic soda bottle using soap and water. Cut off the top of the bottle, just below where the neck begins. The easiest way to do this is to make a starting cut using a utility knife and then cut the rest of the top off using scissors. Use care when cutting your bottle so as to not cut yourself.

    • 2

      Beat one egg with 12 oz. of cola. Pour half the mixture into the bottom section of the bottle. You can either discard the other half or store it in an airtight container in your refrigerator for future use.

    • 3

      Turn the top of the bottle upside down so that it looks like a funnel, with the mouth of the bottle down and the cut end up. Insert it into the bottom part of the bottle.

    • 4

      Use a hole puncher to add two holes around the bottle. Punch through both the bottom part of the bottle and the inverted top. The holes should be on opposite sides of the bottle.

    • 5

      Feed the end of a 24-inch piece of twine through one set of the holes. Pass the twine across the bottle and out the other set of holes. Tie the loose ends of the string together to create a handle. Use this handle to hang your trap. Flies will enter your trap to get to the bait and not be able to get back out. This will in turn kill them.

    • 6

      Cut the twine on your trap and dump the contents every three to four days. Refill the container with fresh bait by either making a new batch or using the leftovers from Step 3.

    Method Two -- No Kill Trap

    • 7

      Insert a large funnel into a clean, empty can. The can should 1 gallon in size. Use a funnel with a large enough spout that the insects can fly in but not large enough that it is easy to fly back out.

    • 8

      Place several pieces of crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the can. This will give insects a place to hide in the can and make them less likely to escape.

    • 9

      Place your funnel and can underneath a light source. Set up a desk lamp with a flexible neck that will allow you to angle the light overhead or attach a work light above the can. The light bulb should be about 2 inches above the opening of the funnel.

    • 10

      Turn all the other lights off in the area and leave the light source you set up in Step 2 on.

    • 11

      Place your can and funnel into a catch net. Then remove the funnel. You will have plenty of insects you can move to a jar or insect house to observe.